Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Hackney · London
Alcove Units in Hackney
Alcove units in Hackney: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Every piece is made at our workshop and fitted in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess
Alcove units for your home in Hackney
Flats, conversions and lettings
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. Lifts sometimes need to be booked, and the lift size helps decide how big each section can be. Let us know about it when you contact us.
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let. It’s made from the same moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood as any of our work.
Alcove units in Hackney: what you get
Most Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses have a chimney breast in the main rooms, with an alcove on each side. Built-in alcove units put that space to work as cupboards and shelving that sit as part of the room. Where a room in Hackney has a pair of alcoves, each alcove gets a unit designed for it after we have measured them at a design visit. If you’re living with a place for a small desk and worn or badly fitted alcove units, alcove units made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand can solve it.
In a mansion block flat, ceilings are often tall and the walls are rarely straight, whereas newer blocks are more likely to have plasterboard partitions. Around Hackney, most households live in purpose-built flats of one kind or another, so we check what each wall is made of before planning alcove units. Whatever the wall, tall pieces are fixed back securely.
Our quotes are written in plain words, without jargon. They say what will be made, what it is made from and how it will be finished.
- Where
- Hackney (E9, E8, E3, E5)
- Borough
- Hackney
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Nearby places to Hackney
What else we make in Hackney
From workshop to your room
With the carcasses fixed and level, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. We adjust each one so the gaps line up and it closes cleanly. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Sections come into the flat in the order they’re fitted, so the flat does not fill up. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. Fixings are chosen for each wall, solid or plasterboard.
- You contact us with a short note about the room and the units you have in mind.
- At the design visit, we measure each alcove and go through the layout with you.
- We send a quote in writing for the units, for you to read through at your own pace.
- We make the cupboards and shelves in our workshop, ready for a spray-painted finish or for hand painting on site.
- We fit them in your home, scribing them to the walls. Then we go through the doors and shelves with you.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
Starting with a design visit
We quote once we have seen the room. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, and the written quote comes after. The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. To arrange a visit, send us a few details through our contact form.
Related advice
Boards, parts and paint
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is stiff, strong and grips screws firmly, which makes it a good choice for shelves and carcasses. You can paint its layered edge or leave it on show.
Moisture-resistant MDF
In an alcove unit, MDF gives smooth doors and tidy edges that take a spray or hand-painted finish evenly. Its moisture-resistant grade is a sensible choice beside a chimney breast.
FAQs: alcove units in Hackney
My home in Hackney is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
At the design visit, we measure the way in along with the room itself. Alcove units are built in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it is worth checking those early.
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Hackney?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Normally not. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character, so ask the council’s conservation officer.
How long will the fitting take?
The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. The units are built in our workshop first, so the work in your home is about fitting and finishing.
Is it possible to have a desk built into one alcove?
Yes. A desk in one alcove, with shelves above and storage below, works well in many rooms. We plan the height and depth with you, with a route left for cables.
Can I send pictures ahead of the visit?
Yes, they help. Photos of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling, give us a good idea of the space. You can send them when you use our contact form.
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
The depth of an alcove is set by the chimney breast. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. Bespoke units are made to the depth you want. Ready-made units can’t follow the boxing and risers found in many flats, so it ends up with gaps or blocks access. Built-in pieces are designed around them, with access kept.
Every room is priced on its own, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. Spray painting and hand painting are different processes, which affects the cost. You will see the figure in your written quote, after the design visit.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Hackney
- Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
- Work across the whole of London
- Every quote follows a design visit
Read bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what a quote should include.
The problems alcove units solve
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. We can plan an alcove unit around exactly what you have, with each shelf set to suit it.
Here’s what alcove units can help with:
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove
- Shelving for books and records
- Units that sit well with original features
If you live near Clapton Park, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Choosing a carpenter
- Is it spray painted or hand painted?
- How they deal with uneven walls and floors
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- How parking will work on your street
Hackney homes and alcove units
About 33% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Hackney went up before 1919, and about 24% between 1945 and 1972, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Part of Hackney is in the Well Street Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission in a conservation area, as the controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings. If in doubt, the council’s planning team can confirm. About 57% of households in the neighbourhood around Hackney live in purpose-built flats, according to Census 2021. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
If your home is one of the older houses near Church of St Luke, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. For a flat near Homerton station, alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, landings and lift, so measuring the route matters as much as measuring the room.
Hackney is part of the London Borough of Hackney, about 2 miles south-west of Shoreditch. We design and make alcove units for homes in Hackney. Our work takes in places right across the rest of London, large and small.
We make alcove units across E9, E8, E3 and E5. Streets in the area include Homerton High Street, Primrose Square and St John's Church Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. Hackney is near the A107 and B113; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Other places close to Hackney include Homerton (1 mile north), Lower Clapton (1 mile north), Hackney Central (1 mile west), London Fields (1 mile south-west) and Cambridge Heath (1 mile south-west). We also make alcove units in nearby places like Shoreditch (2 miles south-west), Hoxton (2 miles south-west), West Hackney (2 miles north-west), Stoke Newington (2 miles north-west), Stamford Hill (2 miles north-west) and Upper Clapton (2 miles north).
Near you in Hackney
Our area takes in the homes around The Urswick School, Cardinal Pole Catholic School and Chesham Arms and the streets around them. There’s a railway station in Hackney itself: Homerton station. Nearby you’ll also find Homerton University Hospital (a few minutes’ walk north) and Cell Project Space (0.9 miles south-west). Not far away are Old Ford Island.